Within VALORANT’s Patch 2.06, players are going to see a new audio option in the game’s settings, in addition to all of the other changes being added to the game.
This new setting will allow players to toggle Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF), which will enable a more dynamic version of directional audio for headphone users. HRTF is simply a description of how the human ear receives sound from a sound source.
When a sound is made, it travels through space in every direction in a sound wave and expands outward in every direction. It also reverberates off of objects, including the unique aspects of a person’s ears, which changes how someone may interpret the noise.
With this HRTF option on, players wearing headphones will be able to play audio in simulated surround sound, 3D audio spaces that will impact how players receive that sound.
Riot is going to continue working on this feature and expanding it in future updates. But for now, only footsteps, reloads, and Deathmatch respawns will be rendered in 3D with HRTF enabled. The developers also recommend that players disable all other 3D audio processing for the game while using this new feature to optimize its performance and quality.
More details about this HRTF feature and how it’s going to continue being developed will be shared in the future.
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